Monthly Archives: November 2011

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I caught up with new Reign forward Tristan King after the morning skate today. King, who split last season between the AHL and the ECHL, had a goal and two assists last weekend in the Reign’s three-game series in Alaska. The Reign are his third ECHL team already this season, following stints in Idaho and Greenville. He’s on an NHL contract to the Dallas Stars, who signed him as a free agent last year.

Since it’s hard to pin down the narrative having never seen King play, here are my questions and his answers:Continue reading →

Four folding chairs sat in a row leading into the Reign locker room Tuesday, the makeshift “lockers” painting a plain picture that space was suddenly at a premium.

Locker-room space, of course, relates directly to salary-cap space and roster space, and that meant Dustin Carlson’s stay as the Reign’s third goalie ended Tuesday. Carlson was released in advance of tonight’s game against the Stockton Thunder, in which Darcy Kuemper is expected to start and J-F Berube to back up.

“Practice time is huge, and it’s tough having three goaltenders,” Reign coach Jason Christie said. “Sometimes you have to adjust. We’re getting players healthy here, so it comes down to cap space and having guys active. That’s the reality we’re looking at.”

Carlson went 0-1 with a 4.16 goals-against average and a .857 save percentage in two appearances this season. Both appearances came last weekend in Alaska, coming off the bench after the Aces had a big first period against Berube and the Reign.

A longshot to make the team after joining camp on a tryout, Carlson was retained as an unofficial emergency backup in case of injury or promotion to Berube or Darcy Kuemper. The Wild recalled Kuemper to the NHL last weekend, giving Carlson his lone, brief opportunity in the crease before Kuemper returned to Ontario (more on that in a future blog).

So who are the injured players and when will they come back? The latest updates, ranked by this beat writer’s predicted order of return (soonest to farthest away):Continue reading →

Goalie Darcy Kuemper was back for practice Tuesday, after
spending the weekend with the Minnesota Wild for games against the Kings and
the Ducks. Kuemper didn’t play for the Wild but he got to experience the NHL
for two days, and will “probably” get the start tomorrow against Stockton,
Reign coach Jason Christie said.

Philippe Seydoux (flu) was the only player not on the ice.
Apparently the flu has hit a few players, as road trips to Alaska always have
potential to turn a slight cough into a mild epidemic. No word yet on Seydoux’s
availability for tomorrow.

Got our first look at Tristan King, the Dallas Stars prospect
who was assigned to the Reign prior to the Alaska trip. King, who had one goal
and two assists in the three-game series, “is a player that has just got to
push himself a little bit, Christie said. “His skill is something that he’s –
that’s what he’s got, but he’s got to come in and play both ends of the ice
hard.”

King skated with Brady Calla and Matt Tassone over the
weekend, but not Tuesday.

Dylan Yeo was wearing a red (non-contact) jersey and
participated in nearly all aspects of practice, but it doesn’t look like he’ll
be back tomorrow. If that’s the case, expect defenseman JP Cote to wear a
letter again – just not the captain’s “C” he wore in Alaska. The team didn’t
have an “A” to stitch on the road sweaters; otherwise Cote would have worn one.
He’ll get one tomorrow with the Reign at home.

Pick up tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin if you want to read about the emergence of the team’s leading scorer.

Puck drop is less than two hours away in Alaska, but here’s a brief update on Darcy Kuemper, who was officially recalled by the Minnesota Wild on Saturday and added to their NHL roster prior to today’s game in Anaheim …

Darcy Kuemper got to watch tonight’s game from
the press box with injured Mike Lundin and Stoner. In a neat thing, the
Wild recalled Kuemper from ECHL Ontario (Calif.) so he can take the ice
during the Wild’s optional morning skate Sunday at Anaheim’s Honda
Center.

That means Kuemper, 21, the Western Hockey League’s Player and Goalie
of the Year last season, will earn his first NHL paycheck and a day’s
per diem before being reassigned — likely Monday.

So give it 24 hours. Unless Josh Harding or Niklas Backstrom is injured in the Ducks-Wild game tonight, Kuemper could be back soon.

There wasn’t much to complain about after a 4-1 win that saw four players score goals, a perfect 7-for-7 effort on the penalty kill and a 2-for-4 power play performance. Darcy Kuemper made 22 saves and didn’t have to be spectacular in improving to 4-0-0 on the season.

Matt Tassone, C.J. Stretch, Chris Cloud and Bill Bagron scored the goals. Steven Tarasuk had two assists, while Shayne Neigum, Brady Calla, Francois Brisebois and Bagron had one each. Bagron also finished a plus-2 on the evening.

The win was the Reign’s third straight (during which they’ve outscored opponents 14-4) and their fourth in the last five games (a 4-0-1 stretch).

No home games for another eight days, but the Reign are in Alaska Friday, Saturday and Sunday for three games against the Aces.

Election night meant early deadlines, which meant I didn’t have as much time as usual after this game for quote- and information-gathering, but here’s a few items that won’t make tomorrow’s game story:

I chatted with ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna this morning about Chad Starling’s saga, and whether it would result in a change to the league’s immigration policy. McKenna, who read the story, said the league already takes a hard-line approach to contracted players entering the country on a work visa, and it’s up to the teams to be in full compliance. (That’s the Reader’s Digest version at least, check out tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin for the full story.)

Justin Kemp acknowledged that the Reign weren’t in compliance when Starling presented his letter to the border guard in Sweetgrass, Montana on Sept. 29. But he also said that, as minor-league hockey teams with small to non-existent profit margins, “we need to find every way we can to operate economically and competitively.”

No sparks flew at Center Ice Arena this morning — literal or metaphorical — which must have been a welcome change of pace after yesterday’s on-ice dramatics. Both J.D. Watt and Francois Brisebois were back on the ice. Business as usual, it appeared.

Practice was uptempo again, with an emphasis on breakouts and offensive-zone puck movement. Jason Christie is looking for improvement from a power play that ranks 20th (last) in the ECHL and a penalty-kill that ranks 19th.

Adrian van de Mosselaer was present from start to finish for his first full practice of the season. The defenseman, who didn’t arrive in Ontario until this week, was huffing and puffing at times. He’ll need to get back in shape after being bedridden by mononucleosis for a full week not long ago; the good news is he’s got time.

The Reign will have seven active defensemen for the weekend; Christie will decide tomorrow which seven. Either Pat Bowen or Philippe Seydoux will make the trip to Colorado this weekend. Seydoux will go if he gets his P-1 visa approved in time. If not, count on Bowen making the trip.

Kyle Kraemer skated for about 40 minutes today. He isn’t engaging in contact yet, but that’s the next step. And that’s encouraging.

More from Van de Mosselaer in tomorrow’s editions of the Sun and Daily Bulletin.

“I’m sure
later on in the year there will be a couple fights like any family will have,” the Reign captain said.
“It comes with being a hockey player. It’s something to push through. When
you’re on the ice, it’s all business and you’re a family again.”

J.D. Watt, Francois Brisebois and the rest of the Reign can spend the afternoon pushing through an on-ice scuffle between the two players that got Watt kicked out of practice immediately, and saw Brisebois hobble off the ice a bit later with what can only be described at a glance as a “lower-body injury.”

Coach Jason Christie’s assessment: “It’s intense and that stuff happens. We’ve got to see how to approach it and how to deal with it. Hopefully Bris is all right. But you have those emotions run high. Especially the practices we’re doing here, running and gunning. The way it happened, I wasn’t a big fan of it. Especially how it did happen. Bris was not in the wrong there. We’ll cross that bridge here. We’ll go back, have a meeting about it, and go from there.”

Watt, to his credit, was willing to talk about it after practice.

“It happens,” Watt said. “Guys get intense. It was a heat-of-the-moment practice kind of thing. You never want to hurt anyone. I think Brisebois’ all fine. I talked to him afterwards. … Everyone does things they probably wish they wouldn’t do. Teams win games because they’re competitive, and you practice like you play. … Not to say you go out there to do that kind of stuff, but in the heat of the moment it happens.”

We’ll see how this plays out. If Yeo is correct, they’ll all be one big happy family before long.